Western Mennonite’s Colby Williams (11) goes for the basket in the Columbia Christian vs. Western Mennonite boy’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School in Salem on Monday, Jan. 18, 2015. Western Mennonite won the game 59-48.
Western Mennonite’s Johnny Williams (10) moves past Columbia Christian’s Levi Morris (0) in the Columbia Christian vs. Western Mennonite boy’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School in Salem on Monday, Jan. 18, 2015. Western Mennonite won the game 59-48.
Western Mennonite head coach Gary Hull calls out to his team in the Columbia Christian vs. Western Mennonite boy’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School in Salem on Monday, Jan. 18, 2015.
Western Mennonite’s Matthew Hull (23) waits for a chance to shoot the ball past the defense of Columbia Christian’s Zach Barbarick (2) in the Columbia Christian vs. Western Mennonite boy’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School in Salem on Monday, Jan. 18, 2015.
The Columbia Christian bench reacts to a play in the Columbia Christian vs. Western Mennonite boy’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School in Salem on Monday, Jan. 18, 2015.
Western Mennonite fans celebrate a buzzer-beater shot in the first quarter of the Columbia Christian vs. Western Mennonite boy’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School in Salem on Monday, Jan. 18, 2015.
Western Mennonite’s Niko O’Neill (21) moves around Columbia Christian’s Zach Barabarick (2) in the Columbia Christian vs. Western Mennonite boy’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School in Salem on Monday, Jan. 18, 2015.
Western Mennonite’s Colby Williams (11) goes for two points past the defense of Columbia Christian’s Michael Moultrie (22) in the Columbia Christian vs. Western Mennonite boy’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School in Salem on Monday, Jan. 18, 2015.
At this point in the season, the Pioneers don’t care how pretty or ugly the wins are.
Western Mennonite High School’s boys basketball team defeated Columbia Christian 59-48 in a non-league game Monday for its seventh straight win.
It didn’t matter so much that the Pioneers let the Knights back into the game after a 19-point halftime lead.
Western Mennonite (11-5) just keeps winning.
“People keep asking me like how does it feel to be ranked so high in state, but I don’t even care,” said senior guard Colby Williams, who scored 17 points and had three assists. “I just want to get to (the state tournament in) Pendleton.
“So I don’t care about who we play next week or how many games we’ve won in a row. I just want to keep winning one game at a time. Our schedule’s so hard we could lose to anybody.”
Western Mennonite’s Colby Williams (11) goes for the basket in the Columbia Christian vs. Western Mennonite boy’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School in Salem on Monday, Jan. 18, 2015. Western Mennonite won the game 59-48.
Western Mennonite leads the Tri-River Conference and is No. 2 in the OSAA’s Class 2A power rankings.
With a ridiculously tough non-league schedule, the young team has progressed quickly and is a threat at the state level again.
“It’s a young team, we have one senior and the schedule we set was to be as tough as we could make it with the best teams we could play,” Western Mennonite coach Gary Hull said.
“There’s two ways that could go: That could go ouch, that could bite you, or else as you groom them and try to get them ready to handle every situation we’ll be playing, you hope that the strength of the schedule will play off.”
In the first quarter, though, Columbia Christian (10-5) exploited its height advantage and was tied with Western Mennonite at 10 after a rebound basket by Zach Barbarick with 3:09 left in the first quarter.
But the Pioneers used pressure defense and quick play in transition to keep the Knights on their heels for a 9-2 run to lead 19-12 after one quarter.
“We started pressing them and so we got a lot of steals and they were getting really frustrated and so they kept fouling us,” Williams said.
“That helped a lot because they had good offensive players, but they kept getting fouls on them and three of them fouled out by the end of the game. They were turning the ball over and we kept executing off of that.”
Western Mennonite kept pressing in the second quarter and was aggressive to the basket resulting in 20 free throw attempts in the first half, and Drew Berkey’s buzzer-beating rebound basket put the Pioneers up 40-21 at halftime.
Columbia Christian slowly worked its way back into the game and cut Western Mennonite’s lead to 49-42 with 4:29 left on a rebound basket by Levi Dalzell.
Columbia Christian head coach Vince Hicks talks to player Hunter Endresen (3) in the Columbia Christian vs. Western Mennonite boy’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School in Salem on Monday, Jan. 18, 2015.
But the Pioneers know how to close out games and kept aggressive.
Simeon Hess scored 14 points and had nine rebounds as the Pioneers outrebounded Columbia Christian 47-46.
“First of all the kids really did a great job of really being very active and aggressive on their defense,” Hull said. “I thought our hands were aggressive. We were getting some great hustle plays.
“The second half we kind of stopped playing the way that got us there. We had some quick transitions, some nice ones up to Simeon Hess. It really was nice seeing 6-3 leading the way.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler
Western Mennonite 59, Columbia Christian 48
Columbia Christian: Zach Barbarick 19, Dalzell 18, Morris 8, Endresen 3, Heiner, Lowrey, Wetherald, Blake, Bishop, Moultrie. Totals 17 14-25 48.
Western Mennonite: Colby Williams 17, Hess 14, Gray 7, O’Neill 5, K. Hull 5, Berkey 5, M. Hull 3, Domes 2. Totals 19 20-40 59.
|
CC |
12 |
9 |
13 |
14 |
— 48 |
|
WM |
19 |
21 |
7 |
12 |
— 59 |
3-point goals: Columbia Christian 0; Western Mennonite 1 (K. Hull).